The lure of reaching Palm Beach high society when hosting a fundraiser at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has been trumped by the president’s response to last weekend’s deadly events in Charlottesville, Va., as major charities are now taking their business elsewhere.

“Our values and commitment to diversity are critical as we work to address the impact of cancer in every community,” American Cancer Society spokeswoman Miriam Falco said. “It has become increasingly clear that the challenge to those values is outweighing other business considerations.”

Two 2018 events — its 60th anniversary gala and a dinner for sponsors — will not be held at the club.

The American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA), which raises money for an ambulance service in Israel, has been holding its annual gala at the resort since 2012.

“After considerable deliberation, AFMDA — an apolitical and humanitarian aid organization — will not hold its 2018 Palm Beach Celebration of Life Gala at Mar-a-Lago,” Erik Levis, spokesman of organization, said in a statement.

AFDA’s gala in February 2016 featured more than 600 attendees who paid $650 per ticket, according to The Palm Beach Post.

For the past eight years, the Cleveland Clinic has hosted its annual event at Mar-a-Lago. Gloria Tavera is a Case Western Reserve University medical student who helped spearhead the petition against using Trump’s Palm Beach estate as a venue.

Tavera commented to Cleveland.com that the Clinic didn’t change venues when immigration and health care were the pressing issues, but “Charlottesville was the one that broke the camel’s back.”

Trump did an about-face from his scripted comments on Monday denouncing bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism. In remarks to the press on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his sentiment that the actions of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were ethically equal to the people protesting neo-Nazis, which he originally implied in his “many sides” comment on Saturday.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke thanked Trump on Tuesday via Twitter for his “honesty and courage.”

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Trump’s statements yesterday drew a line that divides good from evil. There is no moral equivalence. You have a right to know where leadership stands.

The exit of charities from Mar-a-Lago also follows Wednesday’s decision by CEOs of some of the nation’s leading corporations to disband Trump’s business advisory council.

Laurel Baker, executive director of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, urged other charitable organizations that are not withdrawing from Mar-a-Lago, and their donors, to seek another venue.

“If you have a conscience, you’re really condoning bad behavior by continuing to be there,” Baker said. “Many say it’s the dollars [raised at the events] that count. Yes. But the integrity of any or organization rests on their sound decisions and stewardship.

”Personally, I do not feel that supporting him, directly or indirectly, speaks well of any organization.”

Mar-a-Lago Seeks to Hire Foreign Nationals

The Mar-a-Lago club also represents some of the double standards of the Trump administration. Trump has said that immigrants are taking jobs from native workers.

In July, during “Made in America Week,” BuzzFeed first reported that the club requested 70 visas to hire foreign nationals this fall — 35 waiters, 20 cooks and 15 housekeepers. Trump’s golf club in Jupiter, Fla., asked permission to hire six foreign workers as cooks. If approved, the workers at both Trump-owned locations would fill the jobs between this October and May 2018.

The H-2B program allows U.S. employers or U.S. agents who meet specific regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs.

Applications for H-2B visa workers are allowed when “there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available to do the temporary work,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

So, last month, the club placed an ad on page C8 of the Palm Beach Post in tiny print stating: “3 mos recent & verifiable exp in fine dining/country club,” and “No tips.”

The ad included no phone number or email address. “Apply by fax,” it said, and provided a mailing address. The ad only ran twice.

On the campaign trail, Trump blamed immigrants for the lack of jobs available to nonwhite voters and working-class Americans.

In July 2015 at a rally in Phoenix, he accused Mexicans of taking jobs.

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15 comments

Frankly, these charities probably should have quit using Mar-a-Lago when Trump announced his candidacy. Komen permanently damaged itself — with people on both sides of the political spectrum — when it acted in a partisan political manner, then immediately backtracked, and I’m sure that these charities have already felt some repercussions for continuing to patronize a Trump property, and now will feel some more for no longer doing so.

Well, now the Red Cross may have some of those 0.25%ers mad at them, while the rest of us are irately asking what the hell the Red Cross was doing squandering contribution money on events at the tacky, over-priced, immigration-system-abusing, Mar-A-Lago in the first place! :-)

Amen Luke! While I was active duty military in the late 70s, I found myself stranded in NYC while on leave. I had been ripped off. Anyway – I made my way (after pawning my watch) to the Army Post which is in, I think Brooklyn, to find that the Army finance center was closed for a long holiday weekend. I contacted the American Red Cross only to be told they couldn’t help me. I wanted a very short term loan – not a handout and they wouldn’t help me. Since then, I wouldn’t give Red Cross the time of day!

And we’re not susceptible to threats of being “sent back to where we came from”; for not being paid a living wage while demanded to work long uncompensated hours, and we won’t put up (or put out!) with the types of behavior we’ve heard Mr. Trump talk about.

Although Trump doesn’t own many hotels, if any at all, lost revenue is all he respects. All the companies with CEO’s that respect diversity should put the Trump Hotels on the list of hotels that they will not pay for/reimburse. This means, individuals that stay there on their business trips, will not be reimbursed and must pay out of their own pockets. Also, CEO’s should cancel all events at those hotels.

DIVERSITY.COM: It would be nice if the article included links so that we could quickly and easily send a note of thanks to each organization that pulled its business. As grannybunny noted, these organizations may get some negative feedback, but we could outweigh it with tons of positive comments and support.

I am so happy that these charities are pulling away from this president. He is bad news. I am hoping that the loss in revenue will drive him into selling off his properties to pay off debt and he will leave the presidency worse off financially than he entered it! That goes for his brands and of course the hotels and golf courses. This serves him right!